Paul Tough’s book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, is a wake-up call for all of us in the education reform movement: We have to be even more clear-eyed about what we expect from an individual teacher and how we create a community (thank you, Hillary Clinton and happy birthday!) that inspires scholarship and great judgment.

It takes more than the Three Rs to turn children into full, participating members of our society. Reading, ’riting and ’rithmatic are important, but they may not be the most important thing teachers teach students who will succeed over the long term.

Educators have understood this need to help children build character for many years. And they do it every day in big ways and small.

“As for the question of how helping kids develop grit and optimism might help them learn how to read Homer or learn geometry: I don’t go into this too deeply in the book, but I do think there’s pretty strong evidence in the psychological literature that if we can help young people improve their sense of self-efficacy – if we can help them develop what the psychologist Carol Dweck calls a growth mindset – they do better not just in the long run, but right away, in class. Dweck’s data shows that students who believe that they can improve their own abilities deal better with setbacks and apply themselves more energetically to difficult tasks – all of which would be very useful to a student about to tackle Homer or the Pythagorean Theorem.”

Thanks to journalist Paul Tough, the concept of helping students develop “grit”–the character traits they need to persevere when life gets difficult–has burst upon the public consciousness.

This national dialogue comes at a fortuitous time for VIVA Teachers. We are in the midst of a VIVA Teachers Idea Exchange in New Jersey that asks teachers about how they teach character to their students. The goal is that teachers across New Jersey (and elsewhere) will benefit from
the classroom expertise of their fellow professional educators, some of whom teach in schools with an explicit mission to help students become self-sufficient and grow up to be good decision- makers. New Jersey is firmly committed to a student-centered education system and is making lots of changes to achieve that goal. We partnered with the University of Pennsylvania, the source of some of the cutting-edge research on grit, to undertake this work. We are eager to hear from teachers across New Jersey about what a school as a whole can do to support instruction and instill the wider-ranging skills so students are equipped for wise choices and self-sufficiency. Please share the link http://bit.ly/vivanj with any you know!

As teachers, we know that moment when “it” happens. That moment when we know the bait was taken, the interest engaged, the inquiry begun or the spark ignited. That moment when the energy begins to flow and the classroom transforms into an active, engaging learning environment. For me, that describes my experience participating in the VIVA Arizona Charter Teachers Idea Exchange.

When I first saw the invitation to participate, I was mildly interested. As a teacher, my inbox is flooded with messages that appear to be similar in nature. Check this out! Buy this resource! Tell us what you think! Stop this! Start that! I am accustomed to being asked for a “teacher’s perspective” which often seems to give credence to another initiative or plan which typically does not really represent what I said, wrote, feel or believe. It is more like a celebrity endorsement…I talked to a “real teacher” and so my (fill in the blank here) is valid. Needless to say, I was skeptical.

Joining the Idea Exchange Conversation

I participated in an Idea Exchange about implementing the Common Core Standards in Arizona. As the topic was relevant to me, I logged on. At first, there were not a ton of responses, so, I decided to make a post that was relatively benign. Then, I began to get notices of responses to my post, questions from other teachers, ideas from other teachers, challenges from other teachers and suggestions of resources from other teachers.

I began to read other posts and respond to them. I was hooked! I had discovered a forum where a group of interested, articulate teaching professionals were engaged in a collaborative, collegial, constructive, critical conversation on my own schedule!

Although I was intrigued, I did not recognize at the time how valuable that experience was and still is. I continue to be enriched by the experience. Too often, talk in education devolves to complaints about what is being forced upon us or why whatever “it” is really is not much different than whatever “it” was before.

Rediscovering My Voice

By participating in the Idea Exchange, I rediscovered my voice and reignited my passion and found a place to use both.

This certainly does not mean that we all agreed about everything or even that we all became lifelong friends or anything like that. What it does mean, though, is that participating in the Idea Exchange connected me to others who were willing to be interested and engaged in real life conversations that pushed my thinking, sparked my interest and helped me to work more effectively with my students and colleagues.

Last fall, I had the pleasure of being the research partner for the first ever VIVA Idea Exchange in Chicago. I was privileged to witness more than 600 Chicago Public School (CPS) teachers share their thoughts on how to redesign the school day, week and year. Their ideas stemmed from their own practice in the classroom. Rooted in real schools, in real classrooms, with real students, these teachers were the experts about how best to use time for learning.

Arming the teachers with research summaries based on their ideas, I was proud to support teachers as they informed policy decisions coming from the CPS central office. Out of that work came a report called, “Time, Teachers, and Tomorrow’s Schools.” Many of the recommendations provided in their report were adopted by the CPS administration. And I believe that students will be the biggest beneficiaries of this work because this group of teachers stepped up to say what they believed.

But I witnessed something else, too. The Chicago VIVA project created a community of teaching professionals who are still connected even though their work on the VIVA project is complete. Some have left the district, and some have moved into different positions within the district, but the group is still connected and supporting one another in the complex art of teaching.

Giving Teachers a Powerful and Collective Voice

The VIVA project in Chicago gave teachers a powerful and collective voice. It provided them an opportunity to speak directly to the Mayor of Chicago, the CEO of CPS Schools, and the President of the Chicago Teachers Union. The VIVA project provided a space for teachers to shine as the experts and leaders that they are.

Through the VIVA project I have witnessed the power of online collaboration around important issues, and I am excited about the work ahead with the New Jersey Charter School Association and its membership. As the moderator for this project, my aim is to connect you and your ideas together as you articulate what successful character education looks like in your settings. Defining success in your own terms, based on your classroom experience, and rooted in the latest research on the subject makes for powerful and impactful decision-making in schools.